Ghostman

When a casino robbery in Atlantic City goes horribly awry, the man who orchestrated it is obliged to call in a favor from someone who's occasionally called Jack. While it's doubtful that anyone knows his actual name or anything at all about his true identity, or even if he's still alive, he's in his mid-30s and lives completely off the grid, a criminal's criminal who does entirely as he pleases and is almost impossible to get in touch with.

The Stand

This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death. And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides - or are chosen.

great premise, agonizingly slow. The earlier version of this book was much, much better than this new one, with all of the extras. It slows a terrific story down to a crawl.... Also, if you know anything about firearms, this book will make you roll your eyes. To wit: in 1990, the US Army was not using the .45 automatic or the Thompson sub-machine gun. The M-16 is a rifle, not a carbine. There was never a rifle call the M-3 in 1990. Etc...etc... The Devil is in the details.

Forced to Kill

Bravery. Honor. Sacrifice. These are more than mere words to trained Marine sniper Nathan McBride. He’s never backed away from danger and he’s not about to start now, even if it means confronting the cold-blooded interrogator who tortured him to the brink of death more than a decade ago.

This author seems to understand just about nothing when it comes to the military, tactics, training, weapons, etc...And given that that represents half the book I can't believe the editors let him get away with it. Well, maybe not SO surprising. The protagonist is variously described as 6'4" and 6'5" so somebody was not paying attention. What really galls me is that very big men do NOT become Marine Corps scout/snipers. Stealth and concealment are 3/4's of the game. And they sure don't get the training to kick down doors and fight tactical battles inside structures, with suppressed hand guns no less. Those would be SEALS and Delta, who get real handgun training. Snipers don't. Period. Not that anybody with any military experience would choose handguns over a rifle or submachine gun or shotgun. It's ludicrous. And big men don't use 9mms. You use the biggest round that you can control. Always. And back to suppressors(silencers). Nobody uses a suppressed 9mm outside the movies. It's terrible for the balance of the gun, reduces accuracy, AND requires a weaker, sub-sonic round. Nobody would ever choose a weaker round, especially for a 9mm which had medium stopping power. Silencers also don't work very well unless you are using specialized weapons that integrate them into barrel. OK, enough of that horse. How is this one? Marines are not the same as Special Forces as the protagonist asserts, despite the fact that in the opening sequence you have a Marine carrying out the type of mission that only CIA -Special Activities Division, Special Forces, Seals Team Six, or Delta would carry out, and never by just one man.

Now as to the plot. Sort of interesting, if kind of obvious. And the writing is not bad. If only the author had done a little homework and maybe gone to the range once or twice and talked to an old soldier...Sigh...

Savages: A Novel

Part-time environmentalist and philanthropist Ben and his ex-mercenary buddy Chon run an independent Laguna Beach–based marijuana operation, reaping significant profits from an established clientele. But they may have come up against something that they can't handle---the Mexican Baja Cartel wants in, and saying no is unacceptable. When they refuse to back down, the cartel kidnaps Ophelia, the boys' playmate and confidante.

this book is an ode to style. Not to say that substance is lacking although the characters are not particularly credible. But oh the style. In the same vein perhaps as James Ellroy and almost in the same league. That's high praise...

The Cobra

What if you had carte blanche to fight evil? Nothing held back, nothing off the table. What would you do? For decades, the world has been fighting the drug cartels, and losing, their billions of dollars making them the most powerful and destructive organizations on earth. Until one man is asked to take charge. Paul Devereaux used to run Special Operations for the CIA before they retired him for being too ruthless. Now he can have anything he requires, do anything he thinks necessary. No boundaries, no rules, no questions asked.

A lot of imagination went into this book and Fosyth is a fine writer. He also gives you an extraordinary window into the world of cocaine production and distribution. Still, the characters don't really hold up and there are plot holes that are too big to be reasonably set aside. Read it if you love his work, otherwise, there's better stuff out there on Audible.

On Target: A Gray Man Novel

Four years ago, assassin Court Gentry was betrayed by his handlers in the CIA. Now, an old comrade returns to haunt him - and to force him on a mission against his will. With his ruthless employers on one side, his former friends on the other, and a doomed mission ahead, Court Gentry would kill to get out of this one alive.

i'm a difficult reader to please but Mark Greaney has done it again. Like his previous, first work, Greaney packs this thriller with speed, suspense, and incredible imagination. This time he also adds an element of global politics. The gray man will constantly surprise you again. Also, if you are a fan of the more technical aspects of a good thriller, Greaney knows his weapons and machines and the types of backgrounds and training that go into becoming a CIA SAD operatives. Worth the money and time.

The Fort: A Novel of the Revolutionary War

While the major fighting of the war moves to the south in the summer of 1779, a British force of fewer than a thousand Scottish infantry, backed by three sloops-of-war, sails to the desolate and fog-bound coast of New England. Establishing a garrison and naval base at Penobscot Bay, in the eastern province of Massachusetts that would become Maine, the Scots - the only British troops between Canada and New York - harry rebel privateers and give shelter to American loyalists....

It's hard when your favorite author puts out a book which is just simply so tedious you can't finish. I believe Cornwell is nothing short of a genius so I cannot imagine why he chose to use as a story line a particularly unimportant piece of history and then have no character driven drama aound it.

Pirate Latitudes

The Caribbean, 1665. A remote colony of the English Crown, the island of Jamaica holds out against the vast supremacy of the Spanish empire. Port Royal, its capital, is a cutthroat town of taverns, grog shops, and bawdy houses. In this steamy climate there's a living to be made, a living that can end swiftly by disease - or by dagger. For Captain Charles Hunter, gold in Spanish hands is gold for the taking, and the law of the land rests with those ruthless enough to make it.

It is a truly dismal when as fine a writer as crichton drops down to barely readable. Granted this is an enormous change from most of his previous science fiction based work. But it is nonetheless shocking that he can produce a novel so distinctly inferior to previous work. There is a little originality here and there, but much of this book falls into the category of naval fiction, in which many other writers have distinguished themselves to a far greater degree. This book wasn't so bad that I stopped listening to it, but if someone had told me ten years ago that this is where michael crichton would have ended up, I wouldn't have believed them.

Three Stations: An Arkady Renko Novel

In Three Stations, Arkady Renko’s skills are put to their most severe test. Though he has been technically suspended from the prosecutor’s office for once again turning up unpleasant truths, he strives to solve a last case: the death of an elegant young woman whose body is found in a construction trailer on the perimeter of Moscow’s main rail hub. It looks like a simple drug overdose to everyone—except to Renko, whose examination of the crime scene turns up some inexplicable clues.

This novel is not in the same league as earlier work. The plots are thrown together and although all is made well in the end, you feel that the author just wanted to finish it all in a hurry. The characters are also astonishingly poorly drawn, with no depth at all. Spend your money elsewhere,,,

Fault Line

Alex Treven has sacrificed everything to make partner in his high-tech law firm. But then the inventor of a technology Alex is banking on is murdered, the patent examiner who reviewed the innovation dies, and Alex himself narrowly escapes an attack in his own home. Off balance and running out of time, he knows that the one person who can help him is the last person he'd ever ask: his brother.

After over one hundred happy downloads from Audible, this is the first time I have felt compelled to write a review. For all you other John Rain fans, AVOID this train wreck. It has none of the fascination of Eisler's earlier novels. The family drama between the two brothers occupies a mind-numbing one third of this book. I cannot describe how boring this novel was. I only finished it out of some hope that it could finally come to some kind of reasonable outcome. The plot, characters and dialogue are so wretched I cannot figure out how any editor or agent let Eisler publish this. The only tiny bright spot is a little of the type of action sequences of the Rain series. Anyway, I am horrified and disappointed that such a great series of previous novels now culminates in such drivel. Barry, if you ever read this, as they say in Japanese, hontoni warukatta!ti t

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